“The world has enough superheroes,” reads the tagline for the upcoming Venom movie, and apparently star Tom Hardy agrees, with the actor proving quick to downplay the suggestion that he could one day play a costumed hero in the vein of the Avengers.
Director Ruben Fleischer has gone on record explaining that Eddie Brock’s first standalone movie is distinct from other comic book flicks in that it has no real hero in it, and from the sound of things, that arrangement works just fine for Hardy. While speaking to ComicBook.com, the actor who once fought Batman in The Dark Knight Rises was asked if he’d ever like to play a character like Venom’s old foe Spider-Man. Naturally, Hardy used this question as an opportunity to poke fun at Tom Holland’s outfit, as well as stating that to him, Peter Parker isn’t really a hero.
“He’s a mate, but Spider-Man to me, I look at him and I’m like, that’s a kid who goes *thwip thwip*, and wears lycra. That’s what I see.”
It’s here that Hardy’s co-star Riz Ahmed came to the defense of Spandex, prompting a debate on the practical benefits of this material. After raising the point that athletes like Usain Bolt wear Lyrcra, the actor playing Carlton Drake concluded that a superhero may find similar similar use in the stretchy fiber, telling Hardy:
“But Spider-Man needs to wear lycra because he’s, like, bendy. Listen, Venom’s naked. Not everyone is that comfortable with their body.”
Leave it to Venom’s next enemy to point out the symbiote’s lack of modesty. Come to think of it, are we sure this movie’s only rated PG-13?
Anyway, Lycra or no Lycra, Sony are in the slightly tricky position of having to establish a Peter Parker-free cinematic universe around a character that many filmgoers still think of primarily as one of Spider-Man’s greatest foes. In the long run, this could be a difficult sell, but early projections suggest that Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters is pretty much guaranteed to start things off with a box office hit.
We’ll see how audiences respond to Eddie without Peter when Venom hits theaters on October 5th.
